LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON FORMATION AND DESTRUCTION IN THE CIRCUMSTELLAR OUTFLOWS OF CARBON STARS
The formation and destruction mechanisms of interstellar dust analogs formed from a variety of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and hydrocarbon molecular precursors are studied in the laboratory. We used the newly developed facility COSmIC, which simulates interstellar and circumstellar environments, to investigate both PAHs and species that include the cosmically abundant atoms O, N, and S. The species generated in a discharge plasma are detected, monitored, and characterized in situ using highly sensitive techniques that provide both spectral and ion mass information. We report here the first series of measurements obtained in these experiments which focus on the characterization of the most efficient molecular precursors in the chemical pathways that eventually lead to the formation of carbonaceous grains in the stellar envelopes of carbon stars. We compare and discuss the relative efficiencies of the various molecular precursors that lead to the formation of the building blocks of carbon grains. We discuss the most probable molecular precursors in terms of size and structure and the implications for the expected growth and destruction processes of interstellar carbonaceous dust.